Food Preserving

The temperature has been rising exceedingly fast this Spring and fruits have been following suit with their ripening. I know one can pickle, can and freeze to preserve excess but I thought I would try a new method which might reduce their volume and thus, need less space to keep them until consumption.

The new family toy: A Dehydrator.

basic dehydrator

IF this works, hubby will build a solar unit. In the meantime, we are harvesting papayas and tomatoes (more than our usual Spring amount) for this experiment.

Papaya slices

Dehydrated

Tomato slices

Dehydrated

Verdict: Still undecided.
Any readers doing this? Do you add salt? Sugar? Herbs? to various items before dehydrating?